I am a native English speaker and recently started learning Esperanto a few weeks ago. I was inspired by a TED Talk that explained how Esperanto is an excellent first choice for those interested in acquiring multiple languages.

Due to its relative simplicity, learning Esperanto effectively prepares your brain for learning additional languages, making the process quicker and smoother.

So how many here speak different languages and what are they?

  • viking@infosec.pub
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    20 days ago

    Native German, fluent English, conversational Norwegian (and by extension passable Swedish; and I read 100% Danish but suck at speaking/listening comprehension), passable Dutch, Luxembourgish and French, and basic Chinese (mandarin).

    Edit: And I passed Latin in high school (grades 5 through 10), so I do manage to read inscriptions in old buildings and churches, and pick up written Italian and Spanish because of it.

  • Lvxferre [he/him]@mander.xyz
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    20 days ago

    I’m proficient at Portuguese, Italian, and written English. I can also understand some Latin and German. Plus a few Romance languages through mutual intelligibility.

    Due to its relative simplicity, learning Esperanto effectively prepares your brain for learning additional languages, making the process quicker and smoother.

    Ah, the propaedeutic effect? I think that Esperanto shows the “guts” of the grammar faster than other languages do, and that helps learning languages with similar features.

  • MudMan@fedia.io
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    20 days ago

    Man, TED talks suck.

    That guy scammed you into learning a conlang with the excuse that it does something that all languages do and nobody is even telling you.

    Just learn a romance language if you want access to a family of concepts that will carry over easily, friend. It comes with the bonus of being able to talk to people.

    Anyway, I’m often light on personal info here, but I’m in a bilingual territory, learned English as a kid, the basics of a couple others through life stuff and I get a few more through osmosis because all languages do that Esperanto trick.

    • Well here in the US, and in the state I’m in, not a lot of bilingual needs. I know Spanish is pretty popular in a lot of places, and I’ll eventually learn it. But since I’m 55 years old, esperanto seemed more fun. And it’s got an interesting history. Thanks!

  • fxomt@lemm.ee
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    20 days ago

    Arabic and English. I’m learning esperanto, Ukrainian and Latin all at the same time (Latin is most important and Esperanto is least)

    I’m also learning a very little amount of Hebrew since it’s similar to Arabic in a lot of ways. Like Scottish and English.

  • RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com
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    20 days ago

    Native German, fluent English. I struggled, however, with French, Italian, Spanish, as I just can’t wrap my head around it. Languages are super hard for me.

    Programming languages, though? I can write about 20 of those. Easy… 🙄

  • reddig33@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    I wish I could speak multiple languages. I’m envious of people who have this skill. I’ve tried repeatedly to learn other languages and I still struggle. The education system in the US has failed so many of us on this front

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    20 days ago

    Ojibway … or a dialect of Ojibway in northern Ontario. It’s my first language I spoke for about the first four years of my life and dominate language I spoke until I was about 13, then I started actually speaking English all the time starting at about 18. It took me years to get used to full on English conversation but now I’m comfortable in it. I still remember my Indigenous language but I seldom use it because I have no one to talk to any more. I don’t live close to my family or friends who speak it and even in my home community and group, the language is dying out. I think I’m pretty much the last generation who fully spoke the language because everyone after me speaks prominently English and Ojibway second (if they speak it at all).

    So I can safely say that Ojibway is my first language and English is my second.

  • Zloubida@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    French native, Esperanto and English conversational. Good notions of Italian. Notions of German (the language I’m trying to learn), Luxembourgish and Norwegian. I learnt but forgot Latin, Ancient Greek and Biblical Hebrew (I still can read them if I have a lot of time and a good dictionary).

  • Call me Lenny/Leni@lemm.eeM
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    20 days ago

    I speak a few.

    English - Should start out with English since it’s the lingua franca even though it was my second language in two ways. The “native” language of my specific community was a pidgin, so I had access to half of the English language. I would learn this half and the other half later, and yet still be dragged down by my sloppy order of learning, my neurodivergence, and my “hermeneutic” thought process while engaging in dialogue.

    Morse Code - My adoptive parents were huge with their communication business at the time. I have absolutely no memory of this, and it’s possible they may be exaggerating, but they told me they tried teaching me Morse Code before they taught me anything else to see if I would “pick it up”, and they said they stopped when it “worked too well”. It is true I have known how Morse Code works for as long as I remember (even though this isn’t saying a lot, the parts of my childhood I remember go back only as far as five years old).

    Toki Pona - It is said to be the world’s easiest means of speaking to learn. I picked it up before my teen years, the Toki Pona half one year and the Toki Ma or Kokanu half years later.

    Dothraki - I picked this because I really used to like Game of Thrones. Perhaps the only one I picked up neatly in one piece.

    Other languages - Not fluently, but I also know bits and pieces of Tahitian, Maori, and Portuguese. Portuguese was my class of choice in middle school, but after I completed that class, the language mostly just vanished from me. Being the “kiwiphile” (Kiwi culture admirer) I come across as, I also would sneak Maori equivalences to sayings into projects and endeavors, such as an artist ID tagline saying “kia tau te aroha noa ki a koutou” (“grace be upon you”).

    • I was thinking of learning Morse Code, even tho it’s pretty much extinct now that it’s not required for a radio license anymore. I like the history of it and how excited people were about it back in the day. I think it’s still important, so it sucks that it’s going away.

      I love the idea of Toki Pona, since it’s quick and short. But I went for Esperanto instead. I may try Toki Pona again tho!